Updated10Aug2003

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Thedesignofthewingofanaircraftisobviouslyfundamentaltothewaythemachineflies.Itisalso
extremelyimportanttothewayour3Dmodelwilllook.Oureyesandbrainarefinelytunedto
recogniseshape,patternandmovement.Wetherourfinalmodelisdigitalandviewedonscreenora
physicalmodel,itsshapemustbeconvincingorotherwisetheillusionweareseekingwillbelost.
Rhinoenablesustoeasilycreateaccurate3Drepresentationsofthesurfacesweneedforourmodel,
providedwehavegooddatafromwhichtowork.
Wingsections,oraerofoils(airfoilsinsomedictionaries),havebeenthesubjectofmassivestudy
sinceOrvilleandWilburbuilttheirfirstwindtunnel.Shapeshavebeencodedanddefinedandthere
areseveralvaluableresourcesonthewebtogeneratetheshapesinaformusefultoaerodynamicists,
engineers,architectsand3Dflightsimdesigners!FirstplacetolookisUIUCAppliedAerodynamics
Group.CoordinatedataforhundredsofdifferentaerofoilsisheldatUIUCAirfoilCoordinates
Databaseandifyouwanttofindoutwhichparticularsectionwasusedontheaircraftyouare
modelling,checkoutTheIncompleteGuidetoAirfoilUsagewhichlisthundredsofaircraftandtheir
aerofoils.Toviewandeditaerofoilsectionsthereisaveryusefulpieceofsoftwareavailablecalled
AerofoilUtilitywhichiswellworththesmallregistrationfeeifyouplantousealotofdifferentsections.
Forthisexercisehowever,wewilllookatmodellingourwingsectionusingthedatabaseinformation
directly.
1.WewillstartourMartinBakerMB5wingbycheckingwhichaerofoilthisaircrafthad.Usingthe
Guideweblinkabove,wegetRAF34forbothrootandtipsections.IfwenowusetheDatabaselink
andsearchforRAF34,wefindtwofilesavailable,a.gifbitmapimageofthesectionplottedoutanda
.datfile,asimpletextfile,whichlistscoordinatesfortheupperandlowersectionprofile.Download
andsavebothfiles.
2.Wecouldsimplyimportthebitmapimageandtraceoverit.Theimagewedownloadedisa.gif
bitmapwhichisntsupportedbyRhino(inversion2atleast)soopenthefileinyourfavouritepaint
programandsaveas...orexportitasa.jpgorothersupportedbitmap.Ihadproblemswiththe.tif
format,buttheothersallworkedOK.Youcanthenplacethebitmapintooneofyourviews,position
andscaleaswedidinthesetuptutorialandtraceoverthebitmapwiththeInterpCrvtool.Formany
purposesthiswillbeperfectlyadequate,butsincewehavenumericalcoordinatedata,letsseeifwe
canusethatdirectly.
3.Openthe.datfilewithNotepadoranywordprocessorprogram.Youwillfindthenameofthe
aerofoilandthen2pairsofcolumnsofnumbers.Thesearethexandycoordinatesfortheupperand
lowercurvesthatmakeupthesection.Thefirstcolumnrunsfrom0to1andindicatesthecoordinate
positionsfromleadingtotrailingedge,whilethesecondcolumnindicatestheheight(ordepthif
negative)abovethehorizontalaxis.
4.YoucouldusetheInterpCrvtoolmanually,andtypethecoordinatesinwiththekeyboard,butthis
wouldbeabittedious,andpronetomistakes.RhinohasaneattoolcalledReadCommandFilewhich
willreadtextfilesandexecutethecommandsanddataitfinds.Theprocessisverysimilarto
constructingthecommandsforthebuttonwemadeintheFaceTooltutorial.Formoredetailslookup
ReadCommandFileinthecommandlistinginRhinosHelpmenu.
5.WecancreatethetextfileweneedinanytexteditorNotepadisperfect.Opentheraf34.datfile
andsaveitasadifferentname,justincaseweneedtogobacktotheoriginal.raf34_rhino.txtwould

befine.Noticewehavechangedthefileextensionfrom.datto.txt.ThisissoRhinowilleasily
recogniseitasapossiblecommandlistfilelateron.LookingatthecommandlistexampleintheRhino
helpfile,wecanseethetextformatisslightlydifferenttothatinouroriginal.datfile.Firstly,weneed
anexclamationmarkandspaceThiscancelsanyunfinishedcommandsstillopen.Thenweneedto
enterthedrawingcommandweneed.InthiscaseInterpCrvistheonetouse,itwilldrawasmooth
curveexactlythrougheachpointwespecify.Thenwemustdeletetheblanklines,andthe217
entries,sothenextlineisthefirstofourcoordinates.Then,deletethespacecharacterinfrontof
eachcoordinatepair,andreplacethespacebetweeneachpairofnumberswithacomma(,).
6.Rememberthatwehavetwocurvesdescribedwithinthisdata,fortheupperandlowerlines.As
wewillbeworkingwithanupperandalowerwingsurface,wewillkeepthedataseparate,actually
runningtheInterpCrvcommandtwice.TypinginEnterjustafterthefirstsetofcoordinateswillfinish
thedrawingofthefirstline.AddablanklineunderthisEnterandtypeintoitarepeatofthe
InterpCrvcommand.Finallyattheendofthesecondblockofcoordinates,typeinEnteragainto
finishthesecondline,andsavethefile.Herearetwoimagesshowingthetextfilebeforeandafterthis
editing.

7.TouseourtextfileinRhino,justselecttheReadFromFile...commandfromthe

Tools/Commandsmenu,

8.Browsetoandselectyoureditedtextfileandhittheenterkey.

9.Whenyoupressenter,thetwocurveswillbedrawnintoyourworkspacewatchcarefully,it
happensinablinkofaneye!Youwillfindthattheyhavebeendrawnintothecurrentactiveviewand
intheunitsselectedfortheRhinodocument.Sincethismodelhasunitssetto1foot,thesectionis1
footlong.Itisalsofacingthewrongway.Howeveritisstraightforwardtoscaleandrotatetheaerofoil
curvestothecorrectsizeandlocation,readyforthenextstageofbuildingourwing.

10.TheReadCommandFiletoolisanextremelypowerfulone.AllRhinocommandscanbewritten
intotextfilesthisway,alongwiththevarioussettingsanddatarequired.Anyrepetitiveseriesof
commands,orreuseddatacanbeusedeconomically,andtheRhinoHelpfileshavesomegood
suggestions.Itsuseisonlylimitedbyyourimaginationlikeanygoodtool!